Another "Just Back" thread - 9/5 through 9/12

[IndySam]

Here's my free dining trip summary staying at Port Orleans Riverside:

Saturday, 9/5, Epcot - Not too crowded even though it's Labor Day weekend. Wait time for Soarin' peaked at around 60 minutes, I think (60 minutes was the max wait I saw for anything all week). Lunch at Sunshine Seasons - nice choices, pretty good counter service. Dinner at Garden Grill - pretty good, but not great. Left the park by around 7 - had been up since about 4 am, and we were beat.

Sunday, 9/6, Magic Kingdom - crowds still not bad even with evening EMH until 1 am. Lunch at Pecos Bill's - again, pretty good. For dinner we hopped a boat to Wilderness Lodge to eat at Whispering Canyon. I was nervous because I've read lots of loved it/hated it threads about this place. I would have to come down more on the positive side. The atmosphere was great and the skillet was pretty good, although the ribs were really tough. There were plenty of antics to keep the kids entertained.

Monday, 9/7, Hollywood Studios - once again, crowds not bad even though it was a holiday and evening EMH until 10 pm. No Fantasmic shows on this day, so that hepled with crowds, I'm sure. The wait for Toy Story Mania maxed out at 60 minutes as far as I could tell. We rode it 4 times that day. In the morning we got fast passes, then rode it standby with a posted 30 minute wait that wasn't that long. I think that was the first time I had gone through the standby line, so I got to see a lot of things I hadn't seen before, including the Mr. Potato Head standup routine. Lunch was Hollywood and Vine - good buffet with characters. I then learned a valuable lesson. Since that was our table service meal, we needed to find counter service in the evening. Since the park was closing at 7 pm, many of the counter service restaurants closed at 5:30, even though EMH was until 10 pm. So when we went looking for food at about 6:15, we didn't have much to pick from. Our first 3 choices - Pizza Planet, Backlot Express, and Studio Catering were all closed. We ended up at Catalina Eddie's, which was fine, but I didn't really care to eat outside.

Tuesday, 9/8, Epcot - I think the UG said this was the park to avoid, but the crowds were non-existent this day. Probably the slowest we saw all week. At 8 pm Soarin' was basically walk-on. We stayed for Illuminations since we had been too tired to stay the first night. Interesting note/tip: going back to last year's trip, we have done Turtle Talk with Crush once on each Epcot day. My 6-year old son has now been picked by Crush as the first kid to participate in the show the last 3 times in a row we've done it. He has always rushed down to the far left corner in the first row each time, and I don't know if Crush always looks that way first or if it's plain dumb luck, but my son thinks that he and Crush are old buddies now. We actually stayed back at the hotel and swam in the pool in the morning and then ate lunch at the Riverside food court before heading to Epcot around noon (still got to do everything we wanted). Dinner was at Coral Reef - atmosphere was decent, food was really good, but our waiter was lousy. Worst service we had all week. The only bad experience we had, really. The guy did not seem to like to his job at all.

Wednesday, 9/9, Animal Kingdom - we started with breakfast at Tusker House before park opening. We really like their breakfast buffet, I thought it was our 2nd best meal of the week (more on that later). Crowds were apparently not too bad because I rode Expedition Everest 4 times and all were walk-on. Saw Nemo Musical and Lion King - Nemo was better. Ate dinner at Flame Tree Barbecue - thought it was OK, but not as good as I thought it would be. I had ribs again and didn't think they were great. I guess Disney just doesn't do ribs that well, or at least not to my liking. Even though EMH was until 8 pm, we were out by about 6:30.

Thursday, 9/10, Hollywood Studios - there were two Fantasmic shows on the schedule and here is my 2nd important lesson learned at the Studios this week - if you aren't going to Fantasmic, stay away when it's showing. the park was noticeably more crowded than it had been on Monday, though still not really bad. Lunch was Backlot Express - very good with refillable drinks - a big plus. Dinner was Mama Melrose. I have also read a lot of love/hate about this place, but we voted this restaurant as best atmosphere, best food, and best waiter of the week. We thought it was great.

Friday, 9/11, Magic Kingdom - this was a MNSSHP day and the crowds were down, I thought. We had lunch at Cosmic Ray's and liked the variety of food. We had dinner at Crystal Palace - nice buffet with characters. We then stayed for the Halloween party. We got lots of candy, more than we needed. We got pictures with several characters we had never gotten before that were out for the party, but several were very hard to get. Even though the crowds weren't huge, everybody there seemed to be in line for character pictures. We skipped the first parade, watched the fireworks at 9:30, and then the 2nd parade at 10:30, which I think was a lot less crowded. The parade was great, probably better than the one at MVMCP. We closed the park down at midnight.

Saturday, 9/12 - departure day - we figured we had until 4 pm in a park until we had to head pack for Magical Express back to the airport. We left it up to the kids to decide where to go and they voted for Magic Kingdom over my vote of the Studios. It was actually more crowded than I expected, especially considering that there wa a steady rain until about 1 pm, and certainly more crowded than the day before. By the time 4:00 rolled around, I was more than ready to hit the airport. Either 8 days is my limit or my mind knows it's the last day so it's ready to go.

Let me know if you have any questions!

[LMN]

Thanks for taking the time to post about your recent trip. Sounds like you had a great time. We will be staying at POR in early Dec. Did you like the resort? Which section were you in? Any recommendation as to which part of the resort to stay in? Also...I'd love to hear your impression of the food quality and selection at the foodcourt and if you had a chance to eat at Boatrights or not. Thanks!

[IndySam]

Originally Posted by LMN

Thanks for taking the time to post about your recent trip. Sounds like you had a great time. We will be staying at POR in early Dec. Did you like the resort? Which section were you in? Any recommendation as to which part of the resort to stay in? Also...I'd love to hear your impression of the food quality and selection at the foodcourt and if you had a chance to eat at Boatrights or not. Thanks!

I stayed in the Alligator Bayou section of the resort because there were 5 of us and we needed the trundle. We requested and got building 14, which is the closest building to the lobby, food court, general store, bus stop, etc. It was a fantastic location. Overall, we were happy with the resort. Our last two trips were at a deluxe resort, so this wasn't as nice, but it worked out just fine.

I thought the food court was pretty nice. I usually went down in the morning to use snack credits for danishes, muffins, etc., but we ate there one day for lunch and liked it as well as any counter service we had in the parks. It is divided into 4 sections - bakery, pizza and pasta, the grill, and a sandwich section, I think. The adults and kids had no problem finding something to their liking. We did not eat at Boatright's, so I have nothing to give you on that.

[Bama_C]

We love POR and (for LMN) also think the food is very good at Boatwright's. The food there is definitely Cajun-influenced. So if you don't like that type food, I wouldn't go there. The food court is fantastic... it's our favorite, and we usually go there to eat once (for nostalgia and to see Bob Jackson) even if we're staying at another resort.

[Racknack]

The last time I stayed at Port Orleans (November 2008), the busses were running first to the French Quarter and then to the four stops at Riverside, except for the busses running to and from the Studios.

Busses between Port Orleans and the Studios were running just the opposite way, stopping first at Riverside's four stops, and then going to the French Quarter.

My question: Are the busses still running as stated above?

Thanks,

Karnak

[Vince3]

We stayed 9-6/913(WL).Stopped by POR to get beinets (sp).
They were terrible, Cafe DuMond this is not!
Also attended MNSSHP, you are right, crowds were down according to CM's.
Still though,had a great time. Glad you did as well.

[pixleyyy]

Thanks for sharing your rundown! Sounds like this is a great time of year to go!

[crabbygal902]

I then learned a valuable lesson. Since that was our table service meal, we needed to find counter service in the evening. Since the park was closing at 7 pm, many of the counter service restaurants closed at 5:30, even though EMH was until 10 pm. So when we went looking for food at about 6:15, we didn't have much to pick from.

I have never thought of that! Thanks for the tip.

[IndySam]

Originally Posted by Racknack

The last time I stayed at Port Orleans (November 2008), the busses were running first to the French Quarter and then to the four stops at Riverside, except for the busses running to and from the Studios.

Busses between Port Orleans and the Studios were running just the opposite way, stopping first at Riverside's four stops, and then going to the French Quarter.

My question: Are the busses still running as stated above?

Thanks,

Karnak

For the life of me, I never figured out the bus patterns all week. Sometimes we were the first stop, sometimes the last stop, sometimes went to French Quarter, sometimes didn't. Like you said, it probably has something to do with where the buses are going to or coming from. Last Sunday, there was a triathlon that had closed a lot of the local streets, and the bus service was a mess. So we headed to wait for a Magic Kingdom bus, and it was about 55 minutes before one showed up (we had only been there for about 15, but were told by others when the last one was). Our bus was followed within a couple of minutes by another and then another. So no buses for 55 minutes, then 3 in 5 minutes. On top of that, the trip to the Magic Kingdom was nearly a half hour because of the street closings. We ended up missing the opening ceremonies that we were hoping to see.

[LMN]

Thanks, IndySam and Bama C for your replies. We are 5 also, and will need the trundle for our 4 yr old. We last stayed at the Poly, so we are afraid that anything else will pale in comparison! But, we're trying to go a little cheaper this time and I think POR will be fine.The food court sounds like it will be perfect and we are big fans for Cajun food, so I will keep the reservation I have for Boatrights. Thanks again!

[goreesha]

That's funny. I just got back from WDW, and we were there the same time, Sept 5-12. It was a good week. That last Saturday, however, was a bit too rainy and chock full of teen groups from the Night of Joy. Still it was a good week. If you saw a guy riding Splash Mountain over and over by himself on Saturday afternoon, that was me. The wife and kids went back to the hotel for a nap.

[Shenanigoat]

Thanks for posting! POR is one of my favorite resorts. I'm glad you had a good, mostly line free week.